Boeing’s Starliner capsule made a successful landing In New Mexico early Saturday, but Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are still on board the International Space Station (ISS). The capsule, which touched down at 04:01 GMT (9:30 a.m. local time) after a six-hour journey from the ISS, returned to Earth without its intended passengers.
Starliner entered autonomous mode today at 6:04 p.m. Eastern Time (10:04 p.m. GMT), undocked from the space station and landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico after completing its dangerous dive back into Earth’s thick atmosphere.
After re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, parachutes were deployed to slow the descent for landing.
On the way back to Earth, the Starliner capsule, the part that was supposed to house the astronauts during routine trips home from space, jettisoned its service module.

Due to several technical problems with the Starliner, NASA decided it was too risky to bring Williams and Wilmore back. During the mission, five of the spacecraft’s 28 engines malfunctioned and leaks were discovered in the propulsion system. These problems were so serious for NASA that it postponed the astronauts’ return.
The Starliner was originally scheduled to launch in June with Williams and Wilmore as the first crew, but technical difficulties led to the decision to keep them on the ISS until February 2025. Meanwhile, the capsule’s return was a key moment for Boeing, which will now focus on resolving the issues identified during the mission.
Boeing will bring the spacecraft back for further investigation to resolve the issues and continue development.